AI Security Startup Irregular Secures $80M Funding

Artificial intelligence security firm Irregular announced an $80 million funding round on Wednesday, valuing the company at $450 million. The investment was led by Sequoia Capital and Raptor Capital, with participation from cybersecurity executive Assaf Lapaport.

Pioneering AI Risk Assessment

The California-based startup, formerly known as Pattern Labs, has developed proprietary technology to evaluate security vulnerabilities in AI systems. Its SOLVE framework has been adopted by major AI developers including Anthropic (Claude models) and OpenAI.

"We're entering an era where economic activity will increasingly involve human-AI and AI-AI interactions," co-founder Dan Lahav told TechCrunch. "These interactions will challenge traditional security paradigms."

Simulation-Based Security Testing

Irregular's core innovation involves creating simulated environments where:

• AI models undergo intensive pre-deployment testing
• Systems simultaneously play attacker and defender roles
• Potential vulnerabilities are identified proactively

"Our simulation network allows us to predict which defenses will work before models are deployed," explained co-founder Omer Nevo. "This forward-looking approach is critical as AI capabilities advance."

Industry-Wide Security Concerns

The funding comes amid heightened awareness of AI security risks:

• OpenAI recently overhauled internal security protocols
• Government agencies are developing AI safety standards
• Enterprises demand more robust model evaluation tools

The company notes that as large language models improve at detecting software vulnerabilities, both offensive and defensive applications grow more sophisticated.

The Ongoing Security Challenge

Lahav framed Irregular's mission as a continuous race: "While labs focus on building more capable models, we ensure those capabilities don't create new vulnerabilities. This will remain an evolving challenge."

The funding will expand Irregular's simulation capabilities and support partnerships with major cloud providers and AI developers.

Key Points:

• Irregular raises $80M at $450M valuation
• Specializes in predictive AI risk assessment
• SOLVE framework used by leading AI companies
• Simulation technology identifies vulnerabilities pre-deployment
• Addresses growing industry concerns about model safety